Tuesday 8 January 2013

running on empty

week one of 2013 training done and this time i'm doing it differently, as prescribed by mr marc laithwaite, the endurance coach and altogether bloody nice chap

this means running on empty..no pre-fuelling, no in-flight fuelling (other than electrolyte drink) and no post-flight carb reloading . all with the aim of teaching your body to work off fat (the big fuel tank) rather than carbs (the little fuel tank)

sunday was just a 2.5 hr jaunt around macc forest, shutts and teggs nose area


it felt fine at first, even with a long long steady climb to the trigpoint. then probably after an hour and a half or so i could start to feel that funny feeling. your body asking for rocket fuel..that never arrives. and so for the next hour you could kind of feel a different physiology happening, not always pleasant or easy. but i guess im very early into this whole adaptation phase and sure there'll be worse to come before it starts to feel ok

his nibs never seems to look too troubled mind..too busy following his nose to notice i guess


9 comments:

Johann said...

Hi there and happy 2013! Glad your training is on track so far :) I have a big year planned with my 50th Birthday in July.

Forest Bethell said...

It certainly gets a bit trippy the longer you go out. I remember one run last year taking in Leek, Gun Hill, Roaches, Shuttlingsloe, Roaches and back. I was out for around 5 hours, running on empty by the end I was hallucinating about giant Mr Whippy Ice Cream cones.....with a flake obviously :)

Debs M-C said...

I started with depletion runs in September. The first few were AWFUL. I was all over the place, mentally and physically. Now the don't seem too bad. I use protein (cheese, tuna, eggs) in the latter starges longer runs. I don't have the same zip on the hills, I hope it will help me in the last few hours of a 24 hour race. Hey ho, always worth a shot.
Happy New Year :-)

4 Winds said...

Sounds tough. I hate that spacey jelly-legged feeling and usually grab a Mars bar. Do you stick the goodies in your bag just in case, or leave them out so you're not tempted?

Emma said...

ahhh so all those runs where I couldn't face eating as the belly refused it was just 'ahead of the game' ?!! ;-)

Take it easy!!

ultra collie said...

johann-a 100 would be logical to celebrate 50
fb - i might bump into you one day then..both hallucinating
debs - do you use carbs in 'races'?
4 winds - im taking an emergency stash each time
emma - you're way ahead of the game in many ways

Derby Tup said...

I must admit I like my food on a long run. I'll be interested to hear how you get on!

Hayfella said...

I like to get out before breakfast and then enjoy a Rachels Creamy Rice Pudding as the ideal post-run top-up! Good luck with the fasting bit. (Reminds me of the old joke: Irish fella (substitute your own joke minority subject here) had just finished training his horse to go without food when it died)

Morag Heirs said...

Just wondering how the running on empty has worked out for your training - I seem to require fairly constant fuelling on longer days walking or running but struggle to efficiently burn fat. (I also need to eat less I suspect!)

My wee ultracollie sends tail wags to yours :-)

Morag